Friday, April 5, 2013

I Do!

I'm not going to show you what I saw because you need to see it for yourself.

The current exhibit is called I Do! I Do! Pasadena Ties the Knot, 1850 to 1950, Part I. Yes, there will be a part II! This one surprises with its 1800s charm and 1920s glam. Look at the buttons on the dress above. Special, aren't they? Yes, and the buttonholes are hand-sewn. In fact the whole dress was stitched by hand, for a young bride with an 18-inch waist.

Jeannette Bovard, Media Consultant for the Museum, took me through the exhibit, instructing me on styles through the ages and pointing out the special dresses (pretty much all of them). The wedding dress worn by Susie Markham, niece of Governor Henry Markham, is so fragile that it might never be displayed again. Another dress from the 1920's had to be laid flat because the docents feared the heavy beads would tear the fabric with their weight.

Wednesdays are free at the Museum if you live, work or are a student in any of the following local communities: Alhambra, Altadena, Arcadia,
Bradbury, Duarte, Eagle Rock, El Sereno, Glendale, Highland Park, La
Canada Flintridge, La Crescenta, Monrovia, Monterey Park, Pasadena,
Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino, Sierra Madre, South Pasadena and
Temple City. Please mention this offer and show some form of i.d. when you get your tickets in
the Museum Store.

When you're finished ooh-ing and aah-ing at the dresses, satin shoes, period photos and other wedding finery, stop back in at the Museum Store. My book, Camelot & Vine, is now in stock there and I would like very much for them to have to order more.

17 comments:

U captured this at the right angle and the lighting is just right!. BTW I've cracked open Camelot and am very pleased... So far, the angst, as well as the airport shock, I fully get... Remember the answer to your Goodreads friend add? well u nailed it.

As a volunteer at PMH, I'm excited to start leading tours of this exhibition. Not only are the dresses amazing, but they reflect women's roles and how people changed in that century, including WWII weddings. And, yes, those gorgeous dresses ...

The tours are on Thursdays, not Tuesdays, and Sundays, and read the link about other times. You can go in and see the exhibit other times, too.

Wow!!! Love the dress and the photo of the dress!!! I remember being a young (and verrrry skinny) teenager reading Gone with the Wind and there being a mention of Scarlett's 21 inch waist...I went and got a measuring tape and I can honestly tell you that in order for me to have a 21 inch waist much less an 18 inch waist I'd have to be about 10!!! And even then, I'm not sure I'd make it!!!

That sure is a purdy photo, Petrea. Here I was, thinking I was overnipping the waists on my damsels ~ they have nothing on this! And what a perfect stockist for Camelot & Vine. A nice coup ~ well done!

Petrea mentions how teeny tiny they were, but they were not 15 or 16, all were grown women. The corsets whittled their rib cages as well as their waists. That's why petite women now could not fit into the dresses.

Corsets and foundation garments is a part of the exhibit, with lots of pictures.

And those gorgeous, slinky silk gowns from the 1930s in the exhibit -- I thought those brides might have looked like "plushbottoms" walking down the aisle, but the signs tell what they wore underneath. Not like today when brides might wear only a thong underneath something that sexy.